Jim Iker is president of the B.C. Teachers Federation.

Photograph by: wayne leidenfrost
, Vancouver Sun

Now that contract negotiations with British Columbia teachers have reached the next phase with an 89 per strike mandate, the education minister says he's looking forward to seeing contract demands from the union.

Peter Fassbender said Friday government negotiators have been essentially negotiating with themselves because their offer is the only one on the table.

The minister said he wants talks to reach the stage where each side has the others' proposals.

"Until we get an offer and their full proposal from the BCTF, it's very difficult to move anywhere — until you know where the other goal post is," he said. "It's kind of like looking down a football field without knowing where the goal post is at the other end."

But B.C. Teachers' Federation president Jim Iker said the union tabled its demands almost a year ago, asking for wage increases that include cost-of-living adjustments and salary catch-ups to other provinces. The contract demands also call for smaller class sizes and more specialist teachers.

"What we're looking at in salary is a cost-of-living adjustment so we can keep up with the cost of inflation, and we want to have an important discussion with the employer in terms of comparability to our colleagues across Canada," he said. "Our wages have fallen way behind compared to teachers in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Ontario and New Brunswick. That's the important discussion for us."

Statistics Canada reports in 2010 that the minimum annual starting wage for a B.C. teacher was $41,963, while in Alberta, the same wage was $53,838 and the starting wage in Ontario was $42,030.

Iker said union negotiators continued bargaining Friday and are prepared to be at talks scheduled for next week.

"We look forward to having that (wage) discussion and tabling proposals back and forth at the bargaining table," he said. "We also look forward to reaching a fair deal for teachers which includes better supports for our students. We want to see smaller class sizes for our students come September and more specialist teachers in the system."

"I'm hoping that's the back and forth we can have with the government," said Iker.

In January, the B.C. Supreme Court ruled the government's move to strip class size and composition from the collective agreement was unconstitutional.

However, the government went back to court last month and received a temporary stay of the ruling.

Following the release of the strike vote late Thursday, Iker said no immediate job action was planned. He said earlier this week that part of the union's negotiating strategy involves rotating strikes to provoke a settlement.

The initial government wage offer added up to 6.5 per cent over six years, followed by indexed increases.

Fassbender said the government remains committed to reaching a lengthy settlement with the teachers.

Premier Christy Clark has said she considers a 10-year contract a long-term deal, but the union immediately shot down that possibility.

The province's 41,000 teachers have been without a contract since June 2013, and outstanding issues include wages, class sizes and class composition.

What does a vote in favour of a strike mean?

While the B.C. Teachers’ Federation says any initial job action won’t disrupt classrooms, the strike vote does include an option for escalation to rotating strikes. A full, province-wide strike would require another vote. The BCTF says even a first phase of job action, which would affect administrative duties only, would not be automatically triggered by a vote in favour of a strike, but would depend on whether progress is being made at the bargaining table. The BCTF says it would have 90 days to take some form of job action following a strike vote, and any job action would require at least 72-hours strike notice.

How much do teachers earn?

The BCTF says the 2012-13 average teacher salary in B.C. was $71,485. Last week, the figure $80,582 was reported, but this is an average of “educator” salaries, which includes teachers and more highly paid administrators. In preparing affidavits to estimate what it would cost to restore 2002 contract language on staffing and class composition, the salary used was approximately $90,000.

The starting salary for a teacher with a bachelor of education degree is $48,083 in Vancouver, according to a chart prepared by the BCTF. The top salary level, reached after 10 years of work, for a teacher with a masters of education is $81,488 in Vancouver.

What wage increase is the BCTF asking for?

The BCTF says they are asking for cost-of-living increases and a market adjustment to catch up to teachers in other provinces. In Toronto, a starting teacher with a bachelor of education degree earns $51,738, while a teacher with 10 years of experience and a master’s degree earns $87,882 in an elementary school or $89,614 in a secondary school, the BCTF says.

The previous contract was a negotiated one-year contract that did not include a wage increase. That contract expired on June 30, 2013.

What wage increase is the government offering?

This week, the government distributed a document that they claimed was prepared by the BCTF. The BCTF denied that it created the document, but did say the wage offer outlined in the document was accurate. The wage proposal is for a 10-year contract, with a total of 6.5 per cent spread out until May 1, 2019, with indexing after that.

What is the BCTF asking for in terms of class size and composition?

In January, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Susan Griffin ruled the provincial government has twice passed legislation that is unconstitutional because it strips teachers of bargaining rights on the topics of class size and composition. She also found that the Liberal government was preoccupied with a strategy to provoke a strike and did not bargain in good faith.

Griffin’s decision effectively restored provisions for class size, composition and specialist teachers, such as librarians, in the teachers’ contract that were stripped out a dozen years ago. The BCTF is seeking to have Griffin’s decision implemented, as well as improvements to working conditions for the newest teachers, on-call teachers, and more specialist teachers, as well as increased prep time.

What is the government offering in terms of class size and composition?

Employers’ association chief negotiator Peter Cameron said his association is willing to negotiate on class size and composition. When asked specifically what they were offering on these issues, Cameron said the existing numbers in the School Act and legislation appear to be working well. If they are changed, the government is offering that BCTF could reopen their contract and bargain for new provisions. As far as class composition, he said the government is proposing that the union will be involved in discussing the use of the Learning Improvement Fund, which is used by districts to hire additional teachers and special education assistants, provide additional teaching time, and support professional development.

What else do we know?

The cost of implementing Griffin’s decision is unknown and complicated. Peter Fassbender, the province’s minister of education, has said it could cost $1 billion. Affidavits prepared by school superintendents filed with the government’s application to stay Griffin’s decision pending an appeal suggest it would take nearly 3,000 teachers and $300 million a year to restore the provisions.

The BCTF says that since 2002 the province has lost 1,400 specialist teachers, and that there would also have to be many new teachers hired to accommodate smaller class size and composition rules. The cost of hiring those teachers would depend on whether they are beginning teachers or experienced teachers.

The provincial budget released in February did not include an increase in funding for education or to address Griffin’s ruling. The government spends $5.4 billion annually on the K-12 system, so a further $300 million would mean a five-per-cent increase.

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